Texans' Yates motivated by team goals

Smiley N. Pool : XXXXX
XXXXX: Houston Texans quarterback T.J. Yates (13) waits to take the field for an NFL football game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium on Sunday, Dec. 11, 2011, in Cincinnati.

Photo: Smiley N. Pool

He has started two games, winning both.

Last week's victory was against Cincinnati's Andy Dalton, the 35th choice in the 2011 NFL draft. Sunday's opponent features the No. 1 overall pick, Carolina's Cam Newton. In a couple of weeks against Tennessee, should Matt Hasselbeck's calf continue to be an issue, it might be Jake Locker, who was drafted eighth, taking the snaps.

T.J. Yates was nabbed 152nd overall by the Texans, a fifth-round selection.

Yates knew he wasn't going to get a phone call on the draft's first day and likely not during the second day either. So he and his family did their best to remain distracted.

Sure, Yates noted when quarterbacks were selected in front of him - eight were snatched up before Yates - but he understood the process.

"You know how much hype each guy is getting, and you have an idea of where you'll go," Yates said.

He wasn't surprised, and he wasn't disappointed.

Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers are but two high-profile quarterbacks who have used perceived draft snubs as career fuel.

Given that Yates is attempting to guide the Texans deep into the playoffs, perhaps to a Super Bowl - the same, realistic goal shared by Brady and Rodgers - it's within reason to trace any connection.

No chip on shoulder

But Yates has no ax to grind and no desire to prove anything to the 31 teams that passed on him out of North Carolina.

"Does he have a chip on his shoulder? I don't see it," Yates' father, John, said. "But he does have a drive to succeed."

Here's how T.J. Yates explains the NFL:

"Guys in this profession are competitors. You want to believe you're better than the next guy. If you don't think that, you've got something wrong with you."

"Growing up, he was always the tallest, always the best athlete," his father said. "He never had to work too hard. ... Everything came easy for him."

That changed once Yates went to Chapel Hill, where he had a new coaching staff, a new offense and a new approach to a sport he once regarded as second to basketball. The mental demands of playing quarterback challenged Yates, and it was exhilarating.

"He enjoyed sports growing up, but he didn't have what we might call that killer instinct," John Yates said. "He just wanted to play."

It's all about the team

Which hasn't changed and might help explain why he has been able to mesh so seamlessly with the rest of the Texans' starters. He won't be the most acclaimed, entertaining or iconic rookie quarterback on the field Sunday at Reliant, but he'll be the one guiding his franchise to its first postseason berth.

"He's so well-grounded," Texans quarterbacks coach Greg Knapp said. "He doesn't look at it from 'who am I going against on the other side of the field and their offense' - it's 'how well can I execute our offense and how can I get better to help improve our team.' He's team-oriented."

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